Warming Up

It’s been decidedly warmer today, our third sea-day, as we sail towards our next port-of-call, Funchal, in Madeira.

We were up early again (7:45), in time for a leisurely breakfast and plenty of time to set up for the painting class. It’s getting so much warmer now, and sunny, that we`re having to lower the blinds in the Conference Room to keep the temperature down and the sun out of folks’ eyes.

The first class was full again, with people queuing outside the room from about 9am (the class starts at 9:30), to make sure they can bag a seat. Before the first class had finished, the next lot were chompng at the bit in the corridor ready for the 11 o’clock repeat. I’m pretty sure this will change slightly as we go along; there are lots of other activities going off at the same time, and the temperature is going to get even warmer once we start heading across the Atlantic Ocean towards Brazil.

Today’s session was a tough one. There’s no perfect time to introduce the complex subject of Linear Perspective, but because we’d been to Lisbon yesterday, it seemed like as good a time as any to have them painting Belem Tower. Despite the challenge, everyone gave it their best shot and the results were encouraging; I’ve promised them that the next session will be much easier {I don’t think they believe me though…).

It was lovely eating lunch out on deck, and spending time at the front end of the ship watching the waves go by and blowing the cobwebs away. Unfortunately, I had some work to do down in the cabin, where I spent most of the afternoon, but I didn’t mind (just because I’m away doesn’t mean the job stops…); we are in Madeira tomorrow, and, as far as we know, we’re not on tour, so we’ll have lots of time ashore by ourselves (yeeey!).